There has
been a lot of industry talk about the future of television as it is impacted by
the expansion of platform choices and greater, faster technological
advancements. Stu Rodnick, founder of the strategic advisory firm Three Screen
Nation, has years of experience as an entrepreneur, business strategist and
consumer marketer with a specialty in identifying opportunities created from
technology usage trends, digital innovations and demographic shifts.
He learned
early on that household databases are the bedrock for marketers to deliver
meaningful and measurable messages. Rodnick expects that the growth of
connected TV will “offer a utopian environment for marketers to deliver ad
experience that provide utility and interactivity to consumers, fulfilling many
of the long hoped for possibilities of digital aided marketing.” He shared with me some of his opinions on the
subject of television.
Charlene Weisler: First off, what is your
definition of TV?
Stu Rodnick:
The big screen through which the majority of our video content is viewed, and a
key influencer of our pop-culture.
Weisler: Do you think
programmatic will help or hurt the TV economic model?
Rodnick: I’d expect both, because while it would be more
profitable to keep the status quo, the reality is that the market is changing
due to technology. And, with content
viewed across many different platforms, it’s necessary to have programmatic
technologies to automate processes and enable the advanced targeting &
measurement capabilities that digital supports so well. Fortunately for
television, there are lots of learnings already in place on what works and what
doesn’t work with programmatic technologies & business models.
Weisler: How can we
best facilitate cross platform measurement?
Rodnick: It's necessary to deploy multiple approaches,
because there is no easy solution. Likely a combination of working with the
incumbents, licensing cable & wireless carrier data, and investing in new
approaches which rely upon transactional databases.
Weisler: How can the Internet
of Things help in TV measurement, if at all?
Rodnick: With audio watermarking offering promise as a proxy
for viewership, there should be a way for consumers to be compensated to share
data collected on mics from their smartphones, watches or connected TV devices.
Seems like an area filled with opportunity, and Alexa like devices offer the
potential to measure viewing behaviors in ways that were not previously
possible. We need to recognize that the voice assistant market is still at a
very, very early stage. And, Amazon has been smart to enable all Fire branded
products with Alexa, doubling down on its first mover lead.
Weisler: Where do you see the state of TV
in the next five years?
Rodnick: The
app phenomenon will carry over from smartphones to televisions, as internet
connected television reaches significant penetration levels. This will lead to
more & more of our viewing experiences being controlled by apps over the
next few years. We’re already starting to see this trend take place. And, we
can expect it to accelerate across the mass market as apps are better
integrated into televisions & game consoles, become integrated within
set-top boxes, remotes & voice assistants, and sales of stand-alone
internet connected devices keep increasing. With around 80% of our mobile time
spent using apps, we already know that consumers love this sort of navigation
and are used to it. The future of TV will be highly influenced by software and
the simple & elegant experiences it provides for audiences.
This article first appeared in www.Mediapost.com
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